FORWARD — FRONT PANEL N°11 ROLL LINE GRAIN SLEEVE — TWO-PIECE FLAP 6″ × 2¼″ WAIST +¼ EASE CB 31⅛

Bespoke tailors — No. 14 Marlowe Row, London — Est. 1962

Measured twice. Cut once.

This pattern is being drafted as it would be on our cutting table —
in chalk, on cloth, to a body we have met.

Begin with the measure

LEDGER — VOL. XIVENTRY № 4,281

A suit made for no one fits no one. Since 1962 this house has kept a single rule: the pattern belongs to the customer, not the rail. We draft yours from twenty-seven measures and three posture notes, cut it once, and keep the paper for the rest of your life. Alterations are not a service here. They are an apology we prefer never to make.

01 — The Measure

Twenty-seven numbers,
taken in conversation.

0 of 62 inches unrolled

01 · Chest

39½in

Taken twice — at ease and at a held breath. The difference decides how much the coat forgives.

07 · Waist

33¼in

We add a quarter-inch of ease and note which side you carry your keys. Yes, it matters.

14 · Sleeve

24⅞in

left −⅛ · watch allowance

Almost no one has two arms the same length. Ready-to-wear pretends otherwise; we do not.

23 · Back length

31⅛in

With a posture note: slight forward pitch, right shoulder low. The pattern absorbs it; you never see it.

02 — The House Cuts

Three cuts.
One hand.

Every Marlowe pattern begins from one of three house blocks, then leaves it behind entirely.

The Marlowe

Structured shoulder · notch lapel · one-button front

Our signature. A clean, quiet line for boardrooms and long days — the coat our cutter would keep if he could keep only one.

Two-piece from £4,850

The Soho

Soft shoulder · patch pockets · three-button roll

Unstructured, unlined through the back, worn like a cardigan that happens to be a suit. For people whose work is opinions.

Two-piece from £4,400

The Mayfair

Double-breasted · peak lapel · 6×2 front

Armour for weddings, verdicts and dinners that decide things. Cut close through the waist so the drape does the talking.

Two-piece from £5,200

Cloth from Fox Brothers, H. Lesser vintage stock, and a shelf we don't photograph.

03 — The Ledger

Twelve weeks,
entered by hand.

  1. WK 01

    The consultation

    An hour, unhurried. Cloth on the table, tea if you take it. We ask what the suit is for before we ask what it should look like.

    1 hr
  2. WK 01

    The measure

    Twenty-seven measures, three posture notes, both arms. Entered in the ledger in pencil; inked only after the first fitting confirms them.

    45 min
  3. WK 02

    The pattern

    Drafted in chalk on brown paper, by the same cutter who measured you. Your name goes on the pattern, and the pattern goes on our wall — for life.

    6 hrs
  4. WK 05

    The baste fitting

    The suit arrives held together by white thread, and leaves in pieces. This is the point of it. Everything is still negotiable.

    40 min
  5. WK 08

    The forward fitting

    Now it looks like a suit. We argue about an eighth of an inch at the collar. We usually win, and you will be glad we did.

    30 min
  6. WK 12

    The finish

    Fifty-two hours of handwork: pad-stitched lapels, hand-set collar, buttonholes sewn by the one person in the building allowed to sew them.

    52 hrs

04 — The First Appointment

The book is open
on —

We take four new customers a month, at No. 14 Marlowe Row or at your office if the diary insists. No deposit at consultation; measurement is where the commitment begins — ours to you.